


Scrub Up

by ForMyBabies (BooksandKpop)



Category: SF9 (Band)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Meeting the Parents, Misunderstandings, mild descriptions of panic attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25783975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BooksandKpop/pseuds/ForMyBabies
Summary: He really should have called Inseong back the moment he was free. But then again, Jaeyoon still would have found himself in this same situation; pretending to be Youngbin's boyfriend to appease his parents. Pity his crush on his roommate chose that moment to make an appearance.
Relationships: Kim Youngbin/Lee Jaeyoon
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20
Collections: Round One: Ringing In The Fanfare





	Scrub Up

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt 012: jaeyoon poses as his roommate youngbin’s boyfriend in an attempt to appease the other’s parents.

Despite the hiccups in the first weeks, Jaeyoon’s final year at university had been going pretty well. 

Getting assigned to an 8 am lab on a Monday morning with the crankiest professor in the department? He discovered a cute coffee shop that opened early, made a new friend in Baek Juho and had his whole week free to finish his lab assignments. 

Accidentally signing up for the dance club instead of the debate club? He was in better shape than the last three years of university and definitely noticed more people staring at him (read: his ass) when he strolled through campus grounds. 

Being evicted from his student apartment because his roommate Sanghyuk had no concept of noise control or respect for rental accommodation? He ended up moving in with his best friend Inseong’s old college roommate, Kim Youngbin, in a nice studio apartment just off-campus.

Really, Jaeyoon had nothing to complain about. In fact, living with Youngbin for the last three months had been a dream. The elder man worked a full-time job so he only made Jaeyoon pay a small portion of the rent. Their fridge was always stocked with proper, healthy food instead of just instant noodles and takeaway boxes. They had their own wifi that wasn’t shared by the entire student population, and it was blessedly quiet on party nights. 

He was kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

So when he arrived home early on one Friday afternoon to find Youngbin frantically shuffling across the living room floor with a rag under his feet, Jaeyoon was almost relieved. Not because his roommate looked extremely stressed and haggard, but because he was prepared for dealing with situations like these. Student accommodation life gave you skills you never knew you would need, such as preparing for inspections in short-periods of time. 

“Do we have a window cleaner? I’ll get started on the sliding doors.”

Youngbin jumped at the sound of his voice and then fell flat on his back when he slipped on the rag as he tried to turn around. Jaeyoon was completely unfazed. He just hauled the shorter man up to his feet again and continued towards the kitchen where every single one of their cleaning supplies was scattered across the floor.

“Jaeyoon? Wha -”  
“Ah, here we go! I’ll just get some warm water and get changed into old clothes.” Youngbin was standing where Jaeyoon had left him, confusion plainly written across his face. “Keep at the floors, they look nice and shiny.”

He hummed the tune to Juho’s new song under his breath as he filled a small basin with water from the sink and added one of the various cleaning liquids to it that was safe for use on glass. His second-year roommate Taeil had taught him how to wash windows since he was too short to reach the ones above their counters when they lived together. 

Once it was sufficiently bubbly, Jaeyoon slid across the polished floors towards his bedroom to throw on an old t-shirt and sweatpants. There was no point in getting his nice jeans wet. Youngbin had resumed his floor polish shuffle when Jaeyoon got back, although the hunch in his shoulders told him that he was still very confused. Inseong had told him that they never lived in student accommodation when they were in university together, so maybe this was Youngbin’s first inspection.

“Don’t worry, I’ve done this before. We just need to have the place looking spiffy and make sure to smile nice and politely the whole time they’re here. Trust me.”

Youngbin looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Jaeyoon shot him his most confident grin. If he managed to get Hun and Jaehyun’s apartment clean enough to pass inspection in three hours, this would be a piece of cake. Which reminded him.

“What time are they coming at?”

He had started on the glass sliding doors that lead out to their little balcony. It wasn’t much but it was one of Jaeyoon’s other favourite things about this apartment. They weren’t even that dirty, but there was very little else that needed to be done around here. He and Youngbin kept the place in good condition in general anyway. 

“Oh, um, they said they were coming around three o’clock. How did you know? Did Inseong tell you?”

There was a strange tone in Youngbin’s voice, but when Jaeyoon looked over his shoulder at him the elder man had his back to him. It must just be the stress. 

“Oh yeah, I got a call from Inseong during class. You just looked like the world was ending and cleaning was the only thing that could save it, so I’m helping.”

He should really call Inseong back and see what he wanted. 

Inspections were truly terrifying. One wrong move and you were in major trouble. Although, it wasn’t an inspection that got him and Sanghyuk kicked out. In Jaeyoon’s defence, it was not his fault at all. But still, there was a special sort of terror reserved for desperate banging on your door at midday after a night out, and finding another student from down the hall with wide eyes uttering those dreaded words. 

“Inspection. Four hours.”

And then they would be gone to bang on another door. Saving one another as best as they could. Floor group chats would be buzzing with messages from hungover students begging for a plunger or fabric freshener. It made him smile, it actually made him laugh out loud at the memories. He was considerably less stressed about this one, especially since he was not hungover and the apartment was clean anyway. Youngbin was still worried though, he should reassure him.

“You can count on me Binnie, we’re in this together.”

He shot him his smile again and this time he got one in return, but it was different from Youngbin’s usual smile and it made Jaeyoon’s heart do a weird flippy thing in his chest. Huh. He just turned his attention back to the windows.

They worked together in near silence for the better part of an hour, just the sounds of cleaning and shuffling feet around the apartment. Jaeyoon finished the windows, Youngbin had moved on to wiping down the cabinet doors in the kitchen. 

“What else haven’t you gotten around to yet?” 

Youngbin didn’t jump this time at Jaeyoon’s close proximity. He must have heard him on approach, the basin of water sloshing around probably acted the same way a bell did on a cats collar. Jaeyoon wondered if this apartment building allowed pets. 

“We still haven’t changed the bulb in the hall that blew two weeks ago. I bought a new one, it’s in the bag on my bed.”

With a salute the elder man couldn’t see, Jaeyoon scooted off to Youngbin’s room. His socks slid wonderfully on the newly polished floor and it made him grin. Wood was so much easier to clean than carpet. True to his words, there was a paper bag on Youngbin’s bed with a strange assortment of things inside. Jaeyoon rooted past the fake (he assumed) crystal vase, the set of serving bowls and the pairs of socks to find the new bulb for their hallway light. Grabbing it he skipped out of the room and went to grab a stool to stand on. He was tall, but not that tall. 

It wasn’t hard to change a lightbulb, thankfully. But what was difficult was keeping his balance on a small stool which apparently had one dodgy leg. He managed to change the bulb and put the old one into the box without incident, but as he was trying to climb down the stool wobbled and he felt himself begin to fall. Bracing for impact with the floor, instead he met a hard, warm body. 

“Be careful! I can’t have you knocking yourself out half an hour before my parents get here.”

Jaeyoon’s legs were jelly-like when he righted himself on the floor. He had to lean on Youngbin as he took several deep breaths to alleviate the sudden tightness in his chest. His roommate could tell immediately there was something wrong and helped Jaeyoon shuffle down the hall to his room and climb onto his bed. Jaeyoon was expecting Youngbin to leave again, to go finish cleaning the house, but instead he crawled onto the bed beside him and began running his fingers through Jaeyoon’s hair in slow, soothing patterns. It was really nice.

They sat there for a few minutes as Jaeyoon felt his chest loosen and his breaths came easier. Having Youngbin there helped. The elder was just such a strong, calming force. The frequency of Jaeyoon’s panic attacks had dropped off dramatically since moving in with Youngbin. He could probably have fallen to sleep like this, mind reeling back through the events of the last few hours to compartmentalise them. His eyes shot open.

“Your parents?”  
“Mmhm. It’s quarter to three now, so they should be here shortly. I can tell them you’re not feeling well if you want to take a nap for a bit.”

He swallowed hard and just nodded. Youngbin was smiling at him, the same smile from earlier that made his heart thud heavily. With one last ruffle to his hair, Youngbin slid off Jaeyoon’s bed and out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him. As soon as he was sure his roommate was gone, Jaeyoon sat up in bed and scrambled to pull his phone out of his pocket. He had Inseong on speed dial.

“Jaeyoon! You’re meant to return a missed call when you see it, asshole.”  
“I was in class when you called me so who’s the real asshole here?”  
“Yeah yeah whatever. Have you gone home yet? Did Youngbin talk to you?”  
“No. What did you call me for?”

That was a lie. He did go home, he had spent the last two hours helping Youngbin to clean their apartment for what he had assumed was a landlord inspection. But his roommate hadn’t spoken to him, because Jaeyoon had made it seem like he knew what the hell was going on. He did not.

“Oh, shit well you better get back asap Youngbin’s parents are coming over at three!”  
“His parents?”  
“Ok to cut a very long story short, Youngbin’s parents have been trying to set him up with their business partner’s kids ever since before we started college together. They accepted his refusals when he was studying because he told them he needed to focus on his degree for his career.”

Jaeyoon found himself nodding along, he understood that. His parents weren’t the pushy type for marriage or whatever, but they did expect him to settle down at some stage. 

“Now that he has a job though they have been down his throat the whole time, setting him up on blind dates that he has no interest in. So he told them he was seeing someone to get them off his case for a bit.”

Forced blind dates would explain the night after Jaeyoon moved in that Youngbin had come home dressed really nicely but with a murderous look on his face. Jaeyoon had thought it smart not to ask about it at the time. Maybe he should have.

“But his parents are in town this weekend for some conference thing and they told Youngbin this morning that they would be coming to visit him and expected to meet his partner. They’ve met me before so I can’t pretend to be his boyfriend, so I told him to ask you.”

Pretend to be Youngbin’s boyfriend in front of his parents so they would stop trying to set him up on bad dates. And Youngbin thought he knew, and had agreed to it by talking to Inseong. Thinking back on what he had said since he got home, Jaeyoon groaned internally. He really had thought it was an inspection, but this is so much worse.

“Jaeyoon? You better be running back to your apartment right now and that’s why you’re not answering me.”  
“I don’t know how to be a pretend boyfriend!”  
“His parents are pretty conservative so you don’t even have to do anything different. Just tell them you’re dating and sit through lunch with them, it’ll be fine trust me.”

Jaeyoon, unfortunately, had no option other than to trust Inseong. His best friend would never set him up to hurt him on purpose, so he sighed and rolled out of bed to go find Youngbin. 

“You better come over for a movie night later or something.”  
“Call me back after his parents have left and we’ll see.”

With that Inseong hung up and Jaeyoon pocketed his phone and left his bedroom. Youngbin was not in the living room or the kitchen, but the mess of cleaning supplies had been put away and the table had been set for four places - with the good cutlery. Jaeyoon turned and made his way to Youngbin’s room instead and knocked on the door. 

“Come in.”

Pushing the door open he found Youngbin half-dressed. Well, he had all of his clothes on but looked a disaster. His belt wasn’t fastened in his jeans and the black and white striped shirt he had put on was completely unbuttoned. Currently, he was sitting on his bed pulling on one of the pairs of socks from his bag.

“Hey, are you feeling alright?”  
“Yeah, thanks for earlier.”

Youngbin grinned at him, a normal smile that Jaeyoon had seen a hundred times before. But for some reason it still made his stomach swoop. 

“I wasn’t going to let you fall. You should get changed, they sent me a text to say they’re running a little late thankfully.”

He was going to pretend to be Youngbin’s boyfriend in front of his parents. Jaeyoon didn’t even know his parent’s names. How were they going to pass as a couple when the most they ever did was sit together on the couch to watch movies. Jaeyoon realised he was overthinking and starting to panic again, but Youngbin shook him out of it by throwing a pair of socks at his face. 

“Would you mind wearing these? I bought matching pairs of novelty socks, they’re cute right?”

They were very cute. Youngbin’s socks were mint green with peaches on them, while the socks Jaeyoon somehow managed to catch were peach in colour with shamrocks. Couple socks. 

“Sure. Do I need to be dressy?”

Youngbin stood up and began buttoning his shirt, and Jaeyoon couldn’t help the way his eyes moved to watch the slowly disappearing expanse of tanned skin. That was weird. He knew Youngbin was in good shape, the man went for a run every morning and taught exercise classes for old people on the weekend. This was the first time he had actually thought about it, what it meant. It made him colour. 

“A shirt and jeans is fine, we’re eating at home so my parents can’t say anything.”

He smiled at him and god why had Jaeyoon never noticed how cute it was when his eyes crinkled and his teeth showed through his smile. Youngbin ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his forehead but it flopped forward again. It looked really soft, Jaeyoon kind of wanted to play with it the way Youngbin had been playing with his earlier. 

Oh. 

“I’ll go get changed.”

Jaeyoon turned tail and held himself back from straight-up bolting out of Youngbin’s bedroom. The weight of his realisation slammed into him like a ton of bricks as he shut his own door and leaned heavily against it. Youngbin was hot. He had a massive crush. And he had to pretend to be his boyfriend for the next who knows how long. 

He trawled back through all his thoughts and memories of Youngbin as he rooted through his closet for a nice shirt that wasn’t too badly creased and a pair of jeans with no holes in them. He was out of luck. Instead, he found a baby blue long-sleeved top that he forgot he had, and the pair of white jeans that his dance partner Taeyang had bought for him when they did a duet showcase last month. The jeans had some big holes in them, but they made his ass look nice. Out of options Jaeyoon stripped out of his comfy clothes and quickly got changed, tucking his top into the front of his jeans and pulling on Youngbin’s novelty socks. They were really cute. 

To make it seem like he was trying at least a little, Jaeyoon put on his lucky silver necklace and attempted to wrestle his hair into something that looked neat. He ended up with a middle parting and cursed the curly ends of his hair. But then he heard the sound of the door downstairs ring through the apartment and he was out of time. Looking at himself once over in the mirror Jaeyoon took a deep breath and walked out of his bedroom. 

Youngbin walked into the table where they kept their bowl of keys. He cursed and bent down to rub his shin with one hand while using the other one to buzz his parents into the building. At least, it was most likely his parents. Jaeyoon was more concerned with rushing over to his roommate and making sure he was alright.

“I’m fine, I think this hallway is cursed for us today.”

They laughed and Jaeyoon put his arm around Youngbin to help him straighten up. He felt the older man’s biceps flex as they moved and wow now was not the time. There was a moment where they were both just standing in their hallway, rather close together and Jaeyoon had yet another epiphany - Youngbin was shorter than him. Like, he knew that he was, but now he was realising what that meant. He could lean forward and press a kiss to the top of Youngbin’s head right now if he wanted to. 

Jaeyoon really wanted to. 

But there was a knock on their front door that startled him back so that he almost hit the other wall. Youngbin laughed again, his eyes disappearing into little crescents and Jaeyoon’s heart was doing somersaults. Definitely cursed. Jaeyoon drew himself up so he was standing at his full height and held his hands respectfully behind his back. He was about to meet Youngbin’s parents. 

The front door opened inwards and Youngbin stood to the side, head bowed slightly as if he was a butler rather than the person who lived here. It made Jaeyoon’s brow crease. He realised Youngbin had never spoken about his parent’s before, outside of the initial “they’re business people '' when the pair were first getting to know one another. As the couple stepped inside, Jaeyoon could see why. 

They were imposing. His father was dressed in a full suit, charcoal grey with a dark blue tie. His hair was greying and he was about Youngbin’s height, but he carried himself with such presence that Jaeyoon felt small. Youngbin’s mother was different and yet the same. Her hair was dyed a golden blonde colour and pulled back into a tight bun, and she was wearing a pantsuit the same colour as her husband’s tie. When they looked his way Jaeyoon averted his eyes to the ground. He felt like a child again. 

“Mother, father - welcome to my apartment. This is my partner, Jaeyoon. Let me show you to the living room.”

Jaeyoon bowed his head towards them and tried not to meet their eyes. Youngbin shut the front door softly and walked forward with small quick steps. Jaeyoon quickly fell in beside him and they walked into the living room. He was very glad he had washed the windows. Youngbin’s parents sauntered in behind them, eyes scanning every wall and piece of furniture in the room. This was so much worse than inspections. 

“Would you like tea or coffee before lunch?”  
“No, we can have it afterwards. Call us when the food is ready.”

They sat on the couch, a respectable distance apart, and continued their evaluation of the living area. Jaeyoon very hurriedly followed Youngbin into the kitchen. He helped him grab the containers of pre-made food from the fridge and they began setting out lunch. It was silent save for the sound of cutlery on plates, but it was not comfortable like the silence from earlier when they were cleaning. Beside him, Youngbin seemed tense. 

“Are you sure you’re ok doing this?”

Jaeyoon had not been expecting the whispered question as they placed the plates of food out on the table. His roommate/pretend boyfriend looked worried, his lower lip caught between his teeth and eyebrows furrowed. 

“Of course, like I said earlier, we’re in this together.”

He tried for his confident smile and it seemed to make Youngbin relax a little bit, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. Jaeyoon was relieved, he didn’t know how he would do this if Youngbin wasn’t the dedicated one. They finished setting the table with food and drink and Youngbin went to fetch his parents from their spot on the living room couch. Jaeyoon stood beside the table, hands clenched behind his back fidgeting with his fingers. He really wanted this to go well for Youngbin’s sake. 

“Thank you for treating us to lunch Youngbin. We were prepared to bring you and your partner out to a nice restaurant.”

At the word partner, Jaeyoon found the weight of Youngbin’s parents full-attention on him. He straightened his shoulders and met their gaze with as much fake calm as he could muster, accompanied by his ‘appease-the-asshole-teacher’ smile. It seemed to work, for the moment at least, as they moved on to looking at the spread of food in front of them. 

“It was no hassle, really. I was taking the day off work anyway. Jaeyoon had classes this morning though, so I thought it made more sense for us to stay home.”

Youngbin’s voice was pitched a little higher than usual, it didn’t sound like him. Jaeyoon waited for Youngbin’s parents to choose their seats at the table before moving to sit opposite his mother. It made him blush when Youngbin pulled out his chair for him before taking a seat himself. Inseong had said Youngbin’s parents were conservative, did that mean they were old fashioned too?

“Well, in any case, it’s nice to see you so at home in your apartment.”

His mother’s words were kind, but something about the way she said them made Jaeyoon feel like squirming in his seat. They weren’t even directed at him. It was like this for most of lunch, stilted small-talk about Jaeyoon and his studies, and Youngbin and his job. Saying he was studying biochemistry got what sounded like a noise of approval from Youngbin’s father, and Jaeyoon nearly crumpled with relief. Youngbin had been an accounting major, another very practical field of study. Maybe he shouldn’t bring up Inseong and his creative writing degree, ever. 

Eventually they finished eating everything and the four of them sat in a semi-awkward silence for a few minutes. Jaeyoon was convinced he was sweating visibly and under the table his hands kept nervously fiddling with the tears in his jeans. He nearly jumped a foot in the air when he felt a hand cover his own and hold his twitching fingers, but then he caught Youngbin’s tender smile and allowed himself to take a deep breath. They were going to be fine.

He and Youngbin stood to begin clearing away the dishes, but an abrupt cough from his father drew both of their attention back to the imposing couple sitting at the table. 

“Leave this for the moment Youngbin, we would like to talk to you both.”

Youngbin’s parents stood from the table and walked confidently back to the living room where they took their original positions on the couch again. Jaeyoon nervously grabbed Youngbin’s hand for support as they followed them, his heart felt like it was going to crawl out of his throat and onto the newly polished living room floor. But Youngbin just squeezed tightly and led the way, his shoulders set into something firmer than before. 

There wasn’t really that much space to sit in their living room. It was just the two of them and they fit comfortably onto the couch for watching movies and terrible dramas, and when Inseong came over they managed to make it work with all three of them squished together like sardines. There was another armchair to the side, rarely used, and the dodgy stool in the hall that Jaeyoon was hoping he could throw away without question after the earlier incident. Unsure of where they were going to sit he just let Youngbin tug him along by the hand, and ended up in the armchair with Youngbin perched protectively on the arm between him and his parents. 

“What do you want to talk about?”

Jaeyoon could hear the tension in his roommate’s voice. He tried to help by running his thumb in gentle circles over the back of Youngbin’s hand. He was acutely aware of the two pairs of stern eyes watching them, and if he had his way Jaeyoon would like to curl up into a ball and cease existing in this room for the time being. But he wouldn’t leave Youngbin alone like that either, so he just straightened his back as subtly as he could and tried to meet their eyes in what he hoped wasn’t a confrontational way. Youngbin’s father arched an eyebrow slightly at him, and Jaeyoon swallowed thickly against the rising panic in his chest.

“We just wanted to discuss your intentions for the future with your partner. You’ve said he’s still in university and we want to know what you plan to do after he graduates.”

Once again the words Youngbin’s mother used could be mistaken as caring, if it wasn’t for the cold edge to them and the way they were talking about Jaeyoon like he wasn’t even here. It made him feel small, and he fought harshly against the instinct to hunch his shoulders inwards and hide his face in his knees. Youngbin’s hand squeezed his again, and Jaeyoon risked a glance upwards. What he saw nearly made him balk. 

Youngbin looked furious. His mother continued to speak; about their original plans for him and gaining connections in the world and through it all Jaeyoon watched as the lines in Youngbin’s face grew tighter and the tendon in his neck began to bulge with how hard he was clenching his jaw. But his hand was gently grasping Jaeyoon’s, like he would never hurt him. Jaeyoon knew that’s because he wouldn’t. The realisation that he had a massive crush on his roommate slammed into him again, and his heart pulled in two directions. 

One was towards Youngbin, his soft smiles and tender touches. Their shared laughter and shared interests and teasing words that made his stomach tickle. The other was far far away from him. Despite not using any such words, it was very clear that Youngbin’s parents didn’t see him as a suitable match for their son, and already had plans for his future that didn’t involve Jaeyoon. Jaeyoon weakly tried to pull his hand out of Youngbin’s grasp, but the elder male just tightened his grip slightly and interrupted whatever his father had started to speak about. He hadn’t been paying attention for the last little while. 

“That’s enough. I won’t stand for you planning my life out for me any longer.”

He had never heard Youngbin’s voice sound so sharp. Not even after a particularly bad day at work, or during that week when he was operating on three hours of sleep and so much caffeine it had given Jaeyoon a stomach ache just thinking about it. This was a side to Youngbin he had never seen before. It was scary - but he wasn’t exactly scared. His parents had matching expressions of confusion and irritation written clearly across their faces. Youngbin kept talking. 

“I’m happy at the job I’m in. Yes, it’s a low level position in a small company, but my coworkers are nice and we get to help people.” He stressed the word help as if that meant something else to his parents. “I am also very happy living here, with Jaeyoon. I don’t want to move closer to you and I am most certainly not leaving him behind.”

There was more to this, Jaeyoon realised dimly. This wasn’t just Youngbin pretending to be in a relationship to keep his parent’s off his back. The bubbling feelings of his own crush swirled in agitation in his stomach - why did people describe it as butterflies? His heart tugged harder in towards Youngbin and Jaeyoon couldn’t say he tried overly hard to fight it. 

He wanted to stay with Youngbin. He wanted to continue having game nights and letting the elder man play with his hair when he was tired or sick. He wanted Youngbin to keep teasing him about his abysmal student cooking skills and throw pens at him across the room when the younger interrupted his video calls. Jaeyoon liked what they had, the easy way they fit into one another’s lives like they had always been there. He wanted to wake up to Youngbin’s sleepy face and press kisses to his nose and lips and be held by his strong arms. He wanted Youngbin, and maybe Youngbin wanted him too. 

“Youngbin, we just think it’s best if -”  
“I think it’s best that you don’t finish that sentence mother. I’m an adult, I have a job and an apartment and a boyfriend who means a lot to me. Your concern is clearly for my career and the family name rather than for me or my happiness.”

The word boyfriend sloshed around in Jaeyoon’s head. It felt warm and safe. Youngbin would be a great boyfriend, strong and caring and the perfect height to cuddle with. Jaeyoon felt the ghost of a smile tug at his lips thinking of how cute Youngbin would look wearing one of his hoodies. He could feel his ears burning from the intensity of Youngbin’s parent’s stare, but Jaeyoon kept his eyes firmly fixed on the man beside him. Who was holding his hand as if it was the most precious thing in the world to him. Jaeyoon would quite like feeling like he was precious to Youngbin. 

“We do want you to be happy Youngbin. You just never told us what you wanted before.”

His father’s words were soothing, as if he was trying to talk down an angry animal rather than convince his son that they cared. Jaeyoon was going to call his mother as soon as this was over and thank her for letting him do what he actually wanted with his life. Youngbin stood abruptly, still holding Jaeyoon’s hand in his own but not pulling him up. Jaeyoon eyed the tense set of his shoulders, the sharp line of his jaw and the way the light from outside poured through the newly washed windows and cast strong shadows on his face.

“I have what I want, Jaeyoon makes me happy.”

This time Jaeyoon did let his eyes fall to Youngbin’s parents. His mother was sitting with her hands clenched in her lap, a strange cross of anger and surprise flashing in her eyes. Youngbin’s father on the other hand looked resigned, as if none of this bothered him. It made Jaeyoon want to do something stupid. With the weight of Youngbin’s hand still holding his, he felt like he could do anything. Standing up drew three pairs of eyes to look at him and he had a brief feeling of satisfaction knowing he was the tallest person in the room. That tiny prick of confidence was enough for him to force his words out. 

“I would offer you tea or coffee if you could bear to actually address me like I’m in the room. But if not then I think Youngbin has made it clear what his intentions for the future are, and I will see you to the door.”

It was most certainly rude, but Jaeyoon had had enough of letting Youngbin bear the weight of this whole encounter on his own. There was a beat and Jaeyoon thought he might actually melt under the heat of the glare Youngbin’s mother was giving him. But Youngbin’s hand was a solid weight and he squeezed ever so gently to reassure Jaeyoon that he was right there beside him. Youngbin’s father broke the silence first, simply pushing himself off the couch to stand also. He took one step across the room towards the two of them and all of Jaeyoon’s confidence disappeared and he wanted to run away. But then the man was holding out his hand towards them, a peace offering of sorts, perhaps. 

“I apologise. You are important to our son and make him happy, and we should accept his choices. I hope you will not think too badly of us.”

Jaeyoon eyed the hand between them warily but Youngbin simply squeezed and let his grip loosen so Jaeyoon could pull his hand away. He traded Youngbin’s solid, warm hold for a handshake with his father instead. It was awkward, and Jaeyoon’s palms were surely very sweaty, but the other man didn’t say anything. Instead he simply turned back and offered his arm to his wife who was still sitting on the couch glaring at Jaeyoon. Youngbin took his hand again and took half a step closer to him. 

She sharply turned her head away and linked her arm through her husbands, standing and beginning to walk out of the room without saying a word. Youngbin and Jaeyoon followed them into the hallway where Youngbin’s father opened the door and gestured for his wife to leave before him. She didn’t look back, while he gave them a rigid smile and the slightest bow of his head before leaving and pulling the door shut behind them. And then they were gone, leaving just Youngbin and Jaeyoon in the wake of whatever that had been. 

“Movie night?”

Jaeyoon knew his voice was strained but he couldn’t figure out how to make the words sound normal as the weird burst of adrenaline vanished and left him reeling. There was a cold feeling rushing through his chest that he numbly recognised as the beginning of a panic attack, but there was no time to dwell on it before he was being tugged sharply against a strong, warm chest and crushed in a hug, 

“One condition.”

He vaguely registered the feeling of dampness growing on his shoulder where Youngbin’s face was pressed against him and realised that his roommate was crying. When he pulled back Youngbin reached one hand up and wiped tears away from Jaeyoon’s cheeks, and he realised he was crying too. 

“Anything.”

There was that smile again, the tender one from earlier that made Jaeyoon’s heart flip and feel like it would burst. Youngbin looked so beautiful, even with tears leaking out of the corner of his eyes and his cheeks flushed red. Jaeyoon wanted to kiss him. Youngbin chuckled and oh he had said that out loud. 

“You can kiss me and we can have a movie night together if you agree to be my boyfriend for real?”

Jaeyoon answered the question that shouldn’t have been a question by leaning forward and brushing his lips against Youngbin’s forehead, then his nose, then finally kissing him softly. It was warm and chased off the last of the chill in his chest and Jaeyoon had to pull back to suck in a deep breath. Youngbin looked a little starstruck for a moment before he moved one hand to the back of Jaeyoon’s head and gently pulled him back for another kiss. Jaeyoon melted into it, wrapping his arms properly around Youngbin’s back and holding him close. This was perfect.


End file.
